I am currently obsessed with smoked paprika. I want to add it to everything I cook. I love the smokiness and kick it brings to anything.

I had a few filet mignon steaks in the fridge and I decided to take the Latin route and use some smoked paprika. I made a rub with roasted cumin seeds, smoked paprika and salt- very simple, yet super flavorful. The roasted cumin mimics the smoked paprika flavor without the kick. It is a wonderful rub for any meat as well as fish. I marinated the steaks over night but you can leave them for at least 2 to 3 hours. I then concocted a sauce. My initial plan was to use some tamarind concentrate with chipotle sauce, etc. Unfortunately, I discovered I was out of tamarind- oh, no, what will I do??  I looked in my pantry and found an unopened bottle of tamarind jam that I purchased years ago from St. Maarten. I took it out and mixed it up with a few other ingredients and came up with a delicious sauce. If you don’t have the same jam, you can use any other like apricot or raspberry.

I served the steaks with brussels sprouts and Spanish rice. The whole meal was delicious, flavorful and quite healthy. I avoided the rice but ate lots of sprouts..
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